Dalai Lama steps down as Tibetan political leader

Reuters, March 10, 2011

DHARAMSALA, India -- The Dalai Lama announced today that he was stepping down as political leader of the Tibetan govermment in exile.

“As early as the 1960s, I have repeatedly stressed that Tibetans need a leader, elected freely by the Tibetan people, to whom I can devolve power,” the Dalai Lama said in a prepared speech. “Now, we have clearly reached the time to put this into effect.”

The Dalai Lama has long seen himself as “semi-retired” from political leadership with an elected prime minister already in place in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala. He remains Tibet’s spiritual leader.